The Facebook Rebellion

Manifesto: We must have an open social stream standard. Something that does for social media what HTML does for the World Wide Web. Imagine if Facebook or something like it was not owned by just one company. Imagine if you didn't have to look at ads just to see what your friends were up to. Imagine if you could choose whatever interface you wanted to view your social stream, and sort the data however you wanted. What if there was a singular way to access your entire social network without being captive by a particular company or site. What if there were multiple, customizable interfaces available to view your social stream?

Is Facebook getting too big for its britches? It is already trying too hard to control the data, the users, the interface, and to compete with twitter, instead of Embracing it. Twitter itself is a good start: LinkedIn and MySpace are already syncing status updates with it, which is cool. But what about syncing contacts, pictures, videos, links, blog posts, documents, projects and everything else? An open social standard would allow ANYTHING to be shared, across different social networks.

My solution: Still use Facebook for now. Still use other social sites until something better comes along. Any true 'content,' I will post somewhere else as well as Facebook. Why should Facebook alone get the sole benefit of our collective contacts and content? I will link to my content on twitter, and Facebook status.

I will still use Facebook for what it's best at: finding and keeping in touch with friends, old and new!

Just Thought This Was Cool

Prague from the TV Tower - 18 Gigapixel Panoramic Photo

I Am A Terrible Blogger

As you can see, until recently my last post was almost a year ago. I think the reason I don't 'blog' very much is because I correctly assume, like most people do, that the worthless drivel I have to say is completely and utterly meaningless to anyone with half a brain, or any sense at all. Obviously since you are still reading, you either do not possess these things, or you don't agree with my statement. Or more likely both! ;-) From here on out, I will make an effort to 'blog' more often, so that the teeming masses out there can benefit from my infinite wisdom.

The real reason (and possibly the only valid one) for blogging, is to serve as a journal to help organize my thoughts, and provide public accountability for my goals. A secondary reason is to create a personal space in the 'socio-digital' landscape. Did I just create a new phrase that will be used by anthropologists 1000 years from now? Probably not, but I think it has a nice ring to it.

P.S. Darn, I didn't coin the phrase first. A quick web search brings up Socio-Digital Systems, Microsoft Research

Oh, well...

2010 Goals, Part #1

"If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." — Zig Ziglar

I believe in the power of setting goals. Like most people, however, I have failed to do so. A real goal should follow the SMART acronym. Anything else is just a wish or a daydream.

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely

This post is not to convince anyone of the importance of goal setting, but rather to serve as public accountability for my own goals. I ask only that my family and friends keep me to task to meet these goals. Ask me how I'm doing. Offer encouragement. Comment if you have positively constructive ideas.

Here are a few of my goals for 2010 in several different areas, in no particular order:

Physical: Lose 40 pounds. I currently weigh 195 lbs. All the charts put me at an "ideal weight" between 150-160. I'm not going to let anyone tell me, "You'd be all skin and bones," and settle for less. This is less than 1 pound per week. I will accomplish this by counting calories (I use livestrong.com/thedailyplate) and visiting the gym at the local community center at least 3 times per week.

Financial: My wife Kristin and I, huge fans of Dave Ramsey, have agreed that no matter what, come Hell or high water, we will pay off all our credit card debt during 2010. Without boring you (or freaking you out) with the numbers, lets just say we can gloat about the fact that we are "above average citizens."

Okay, those were the easy ones. My next goal is to create meaningful goals for the following categories: Professional, Marriage, Spiritual, Children and more...

Playing in the Snow

I believe this is Lillian's first time actually playing in the snow. She has seen it several times, but was always too small! We were out less than 15 minutes; It was pretty cold today! Afterward we had hot chocolate which she absolutely devoured!

Yep, It's Cold!

This is what happens when you leave a case of pop in a cold sun-room.
Luckily it was the only one to explode...

Our Christmas Lights

FINALLY! Here are some pictures of our Christmas lights this holiday
season! I am cross-posting them to my business blog
(JamesWearPhotography.blogspot.com), our family blog
(TheWearFamily.blogspot.com), as well as my Facebook page! Please leave
comments; let us know what you think! We had to start from scratch this
year, and we are kind of burnt out by the whole Christmas light thing.
But we do love putting them up each year. And by WE, I mean ME up on a
ladder in the freezing cold while Lily and Kristin relax with a mug of
hot chocolate! It's OK though, as they took care of most of the indoor
decorating, which I find to be too tedious. My job is to put up the
lights and carry in the prickly Christmas tree!